🔗 Share this article

Itbecame clear the manager was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later discard him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.